Helmuth Von Moltke and the Origins of the First World War

Helmuth Von Moltke and the Origins of the First World War PDF Author: Annika Mombauer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521791014
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 346

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Book Description
A study of the influence of German Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke, 1906-1914.

Helmuth Von Moltke and the Origins of the First World War

Helmuth Von Moltke and the Origins of the First World War PDF Author: Annika Mombauer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521791014
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 346

Get Book Here

Book Description
A study of the influence of German Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke, 1906-1914.

Helmuth von Moltke and the Origins of the First World War

Helmuth von Moltke and the Origins of the First World War PDF Author: Annika Mombauer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521019569
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
This book explores the influence of Helmuth von Moltke, Germany's Chief of the General Staff between 1906 and 1914. Based largely on previously-unknown primary sources, it shows that Moltke's influence on the Kaiser and on Germany's political decision-making to have been decisive, helping to foster an increasingly confrontational mood. The book also takes issue with the common perception of Moltke as a reluctant military leader, concluding that he was both bellicose and ambitious and played a crucial role in the outbreak of the First World War.

Moltke on the Art of War

Moltke on the Art of War PDF Author: Daniel Hughes
Publisher: Presidio Press
ISBN: 0307538516
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
Field Marshal Helmuth Graf von Moltke is best known for his direction of the German/Prussian campaigns against Austria in 1866 and France in 1870-71, yet it was during his service as chief of the General Staff that he laid the foundation for the German way of war which would continue through 1945. Professor Daniel Hughes of the Air War College, in addition to editing and assisting with the translation of this selection of Moltke’s thoughts and theories on the art of war, has written an insightful commentary on “Moltke the Elder” that places him in the broader context of Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz’s sometimes abstract philosophical ideas. The book also contains an extensive bibliographic and historiographic commentary that includes references to Moltke and his theories in the current literature in Germany, England, and the United States—a valuable aid to anyone doing research on the subject. This volume, in addition to its appeal to scholars, serves as an introduction to the theory of the German army, as well as a summary of Moltke’s enduring theoretical legacy. Praise for Moltke on the Art of War “Moltke molded the Prussian and ultimately the German army at a time of technological and economic change. For that reason . . . this book deserves a much wider audience than those interested in nineteenth-century military history. Readers will be particularly grateful for the editor’s careful explanation of terms that are easily mistranslated in English, and for concise and useful footnotes and bibliography. A model of fine editing.”—Foreign Affairs Magazine “This valuable work ably compiles the selected writings on the art of war of one of military history’s greatest geniuses. [Moltke’s] impact on American military thinking persists, especially in various military staff college curricula. Strongly recommended.”—Armed Forces Journal “A thoughtfully edited, well-translated anthology that merits a place in any serious collection on the craft of war in the modern Western world."—Journal of Military History

The Schlieffen Plan

The Schlieffen Plan PDF Author: Hans Ehlert
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813147476
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 597

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Book Description
With the creation of the Franco-Russian Alliance and the failure of the Reinsurance Treaty in the late nineteenth century, Germany needed a strategy for fighting a two-front war. In response, Field Marshal Count Alfred von Schlieffen produced a study that represented the apex of modern military planning. His Memorandum for a War against France, which incorporated a mechanized cavalry as well as new technologies in weaponry, advocated that Germany concentrate its field army to the west and annihilate the French army within a few weeks. For generations, historians have considered Schlieffen's writings to be the foundation of Germany's military strategy in World War I and have hotly debated the reasons why the plan, as executed, failed. In this important volume, international scholars reassess Schlieffen's work for the first time in decades, offering new insights into the renowned general's impact not only on World War I but also on nearly a century of military historiography. The contributors draw on newly available source materials from European and Russian archives to demonstrate both the significance of the Schlieffen Plan and its deficiencies. They examine the operational planning of relevant European states and provide a broad, comparative historical context that other studies lack. Featuring fold-out maps and abstracts of the original German deployment plans as they evolved from 1893 to 1914, this rigorous reassessment vividly illustrates how failures in statecraft as well as military planning led to the tragedy of the First World War.

Blood and Iron

Blood and Iron PDF Author: Otto Friedrich
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 9780060927677
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
In the turbulent history of modern Germany the name of Moltke has stood for military power and also enduring moral strength. In the Franco-Prussian War and then World Wars I and II, in each a Moltke was a key figure, culminating in the arrest and execution for conspiracy by the Gestapo of Count Helmuth James von Moltke, the great-great-nephew of Field Marshal von Moltke, who had defeated the Austrians, then besieged and conquered Paris in 1871, and made Germany the dominant power in Europe. The Field Marshal's nephew, Helmuth Johannes Ludwig von Moltke, was Chief of Staff of the German armies in 1914. With his armies on the Maine only twenty miles from Paris, he suffered a nervous breakdown and was removed from command. And Helmuth James, working for Admiral Wilhelm Canaris in German intelligence and leader of the underground resistance to Hitler, was arrested by the Gestapo and tried and executed for treason in the last months of the war. At every major crisis in more than a century of German history the von Moltke family has played a critical role. The history of the family is thus a way of perceiving and assessing the history of modem Germany. For the Germany of the von Moltkes was also the Germany of Bismarck and Hitler, Wagner and Strauss, Nietzsche, Mann, and Brecht. Friedrich's vivid and knowledgeable style makes this an absorbing historical chronicle full of characters and events on a broad canvas along with personal histories, anecdotes, and gossip within and without the corndors of power.

The Origins of the First World War

The Origins of the First World War PDF Author: Annika Mombauer
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317875842
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
The seminal event of the 20th century, the origins of the First World War have always been difficult to establish and have aroused deep controversy. Annika Mombauer tracks the impassioned debates as they developed at critical points through the twentieth century. The book focuses on the controversy itself, rather than the specific events leading up to the war. Emotive and emotional from the very beginning of the conflict, the debate and the passions aroused in response to such issues as the ‘war-guilt paragraph’ of the treaty of Versailles, are set in the context of the times in which they were proposed. Similarly, the argument has been fuelled by concerns over the sacrifices that were made and the casualities that were suffered. Were they really justified?

German Strategy and the Path to Verdun

German Strategy and the Path to Verdun PDF Author: Robert T. Foley
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521841931
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
Almost 90 years since its conclusion, the battle of Verdun is still little understood. German Strategy and the Path to Verdun is a detailed examination of this seminal battle based on research conducted in archives long thought lost. Material returned to Germany from the former Soviet Union has allowed for a reinterpretation of Erich von Falkenhayn's overall strategy for the war and of the development of German operational and tactical concepts to fit this new strategy of attrition. By taking a long view of the development of German military ideas from the end of the Franco-German War in 1871, German Strategy and the Path to Verdun also gives much-needed context to Falkenhayn's ideas and the course of one of the greatest battles of attrition the world has ever known.

Light for the New Millennium

Light for the New Millennium PDF Author: Rudolf Steiner
Publisher: Rudolf Steiner Press
ISBN: 1855844001
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 398

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Book Description
Containing a wealth of material on a variety of subjects, Light for the New Millennium tells the story of the meeting of two great men and their continuing relationship beyond the threshold of death: Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925)--the seer, scientist of the spirit, and cultural innovator--and Helmuth von Moltke (1848-1916)--a renowned military man, Chief of the General Staff of the German army during the outbreak of World War I. In 1914, following disagreements with the Kaiser, Moltke was dismissed from his post. This led to a great inner crisis in the General, that in turn drew him closer to Steiner. When Moltke died two years later, Steiner maintained contact with his excarnated soul, receiving communications that he passed on to Moltke's wife, Eliza. These remarkable and unique messages are reproduced here in full, together with relevant letters from the General to his wife. The various additional commentaries, essays and documents give insights to themes of continuing significance for our time, including the workings of evil; karma and reincarnation; life after death; the new millennium and the end of the last century; the hidden causes of World War I; the destiny of Europe, and the future of Rudolf Steiner's science of the spirit. Also included are Moltke's private reflections on the causes of the Great War ("the document that could have changed world history"), a key interview with Steiner for Le Matin, an introduction and notes by T. H. Meyer, and studies by Jürgen von Grone, Jens Heisterkamp and Johannes Tautz.

Inventing the Schlieffen Plan

Inventing the Schlieffen Plan PDF Author: Terence Zuber
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191647713
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
The existence of the Schlieffen plan has been one of the basic assumptions of twentieth-century military history. It was the perfect example of the evils of German militarism: aggressive, mechanical, disdainful of politics and of public morality. The Great War began in August 1914 allegedly because the Schlieffen plan forced the German government to transform a Balkan quarrel into a World War by attacking France. And, in the end, the Schlieffen plan failed at the battle of the Marne. Yet it has always been recognized that the Schlieffen plan included inconsistencies which have never been satisfactorily explained. On the basis of newly discovered documents from German archives, Terence Zuber presents a radically different picture of German war planning between 1871 and 1914, and concludes that, in fact, there never really was a `Schlieffen plan'.

The Marne, 1914

The Marne, 1914 PDF Author: Holger H. Herwig
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1588369099
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
For the first time in a generation, here is a bold new account of the Battle of the Marne, a cataclysmic encounter that prevented a quick German victory in World War I and changed the course of two wars and the world. With exclusive information based on newly unearthed documents, Holger H. Herwig re-creates the dramatic battle and reinterprets Germany’s aggressive “Schlieffen Plan” as a carefully crafted design to avoid a protracted war against superior coalitions. He paints a fresh portrait of the run-up to the Marne and puts in dazzling relief the Battle of the Marne itself: the French resolve to win, and the crucial lack of coordination between Germany’s First and Second Armies. Herwig also provides stunning cameos of all the important players, from Germany’s Chief of General Staff Helmuth von Moltke to his rival, France’s Joseph Joffre. Revelatory and riveting, this is the source on this seminal event.